Beyoncé was already famous when she went solo. Her time as part of Destiny’s Child gave her the start she needed in the music business, and she’s been a staple ever since. However, it wasn’t until she went solo that she truly blew up and became the huge cultural icon that she is today. Released...

Amy Winehouse’s debut album, Frank, catapulted a 20-year-old working class girl from North London into the media spotlight. By the time her sophomore album, Back to Black, was released three years later in October 2006, she had become a household name and was selling out arenas worldwide. Here, we take...

Madonna’s debut, self-titled album was a slow-burn success, taking a year to reach its peak Billboard position of eight 1. It’s a nice disco record, while the catchy singles still hold up, but listening to them at a 30-year remove, you can really hear the thinness. “Lucky Star,” “Borderline,”...

According to McGill University professor Daniel J. Levitin, musical taste solidifies at the age at 14. (This would explain a lot in my case.) He states: “Pubertal growth hormones make everything we’re experiencing, including music, seem very important. We’re just reaching a point in our cognitive...

Critique of Lorde’s upcoming full length record, Melodrama, may never be a solitary experience. The shadow of “Royals” looms large, as does the long, impressive performance on the charts (197 weeks, peak of 3). The point? A sophomore record almost always acts as response to the debut’s...

When Taylor Swift released her first record, 2006’s self-titled debut, she was 16 years old and situated pretty firmly in the country music genre. The way Swift tells it, most labels were reluctant to take on an artist as young as she was at the time. After all, when you sign a teenager — even […]